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Title: Sex
Avoided subjects Discussed in Plain English
Author: Henry Stanton
Release Date: December 2, 2007 [EBook #23680]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEX ***
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SEX
AVOIDED SUBJECTS DISCUSSED IN PLAIN ENGLISH
_By_
HENRY STANTON
[Illustration]
SOCIAL CULTURE PUBLICATIONS
151 FIFTH AVENUE · NEW YORK
Copyright, 1922
SOCIAL CULTURE PUBLICATIONS
MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. SEX 5
II. THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO HUMAN BEING 12
III. SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD 20
IV. SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD 26
V. SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT MALE 30
VI. SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE 35
VII. SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION (THE HUSBAND) 43
VIII. SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION (THE WIFE) 45
IX. SEX DISEASES 53
X. LOVE AND SEX 57
CHAPTER I
SEX
The happiness of all human beings, men and women, depends largely on
their rational solution of the sexual problem. Sex and the part it
plays in human life cannot be ignored. In the case of animals sex
plays a simpler and less complex rôle. It is a purely natural and
instinctive function whose underlying purpose is the perpetuation of
the species. It is not complicated by the many incidental phenomena
which result, in man's case, from psychologic, economic, moral and
religious causes. Climate, social conditions, individual modes of life
and work, alcohol, wealth and poverty, and other factors affect sexual
activity in human beings.
Sexual love, which is practically unknown to the animals, is a special
development of the sex urge in the human soul. The deeper purpose of
the sex function in human beings, likewise, is procreation, the
reproduction of species.
The average man, woman and child should know the essential sex facts
in order to be able to deal with the sex problems of life. Of late
years there has been a greater diffusion of such knowledge. To a large
extent, however, children and adolescents are still taught to look on
all that pertains to sex as something shameful and immodest, something
not to be discussed. Sex is an "Avoided Subject."
This is fundamentally wrong. Sex affects the very root of all human
life. Its activities are not obscene, but Nature's own means to
certain legitimate ends. The sex functions, when properly controlled
and led into the proper channels, are a most essential and legitimate
form of physical self-expression. The veil of secrecy with which they
are so often shrouded tends to create an altogether false impression
regarding them. This discussion of these "Avoided Subjects," in "Plain
English," is intended to give the salient facts regarding sex in a
direct, straightforward manner, bearing in mind the true purpose of
normal sex activities.
The more we know of the facts of sex, the right and normal part sex
activities play in life, and all that tends to abuse and degrade them,
the better able we will be to make sex a factor for happiness in our
own lives and that of our descendants. Mankind, for its own general
good, must desire that reproduction--the real purpose of every sexual
function--occur in such a way as to perpetuate its own best physical
and mental qualities.
THE LAW OF PHYSICAL LIFE
It is a universal rule of physical life that every individual being
undergoes a development which we know as its individual life and
which, so far as its physical substance is concerned, ends with death.
Death is the destruction of the greater part of this individual
organism which, when death ensues, once more becomes lifeless matter.
Only small portions of this matter, the germ cells, continue to live
under certain conditions which nature has fixed.
The germ cell--as has been established by the microscope--is the tiny
cell which in the lowest living organisms as well as in man himself,
forms the unit of physical development. Yet even this tiny cell is
already a highly organized and perfected thing. It is composed of the
most widely differing elements which, taken together, form the
so-called protoplasm or cellular substance. And for all life
established in nature the cell remains the constant and unchanging
form element. It comprises the cell-protoplasm and a nucleus imbedded
in it whose substance is known as the nucleoplasm. The nucleus is the
more important of the two and, so to say, governs the life of the
cell-protoplasm.
The lower one-celled organisms in nature increase by division, just as
do the individual cells of a more highly organized, many-celled order
of living beings. And in all cases, though death or destruction of the
cells is synonymous with the death or destruction of the living
organism, the latter in most cases already has recreated itself by
reproduction.
We will not go into the very complicated details of the actual process
of the growth and division of the protoplasmic cells. It is enough to
say that in the case of living creatures provided with more
complicated organisms, such as the higher plants, animals and man, the
little cell units divide and grow as they do in the case of the lower
organisms. The fact is one which shows the intimate inner relationship
of all living beings.
THE LADDER OF ORGANIC ASCENT
As we mount the ascending ladder of plant and animal life the
unit-cell of the lower organisms is replaced by a great number of
individual cells, which have grown together to form a completed whole.
In this complete whole the cells, in accordance with the specific
purpose for which they are intended, all have a different form and a
different chemical composition. Thus it is that in the case of the
plants leaves, flowers, buds, bark, branches and stems are formed, and
in that of animals skin, intestines, glands, blood, muscles, nerves,
brain and the organs of sense. In spite of the complicated nature of
numerous organisms we find that many of them still possess the power
of reproducing themselves by division or a process of "budding." In
the case of certain plants and animals, cell-groups grow together into
a so-called "bud," which later detaches itself from the parent body
and forms a new individual living organism, as in the case of the
polyps or the tubers in plant life.
A tree, for instance, may be grown from a graft which has been cut off
and planted in the ground. And ants and bees which have not been
fecundated are quite capable of laying eggs out of which develop
perfect, well-formed descendants. This last process is called
parthenogenesis. It is a process, however, which if carried on through
several generations, ends in deterioration and degeneracy. In the case
of the higher animals, vertebrates and man, such reproduction is an
impossibility.
These higher types of animal life have been provided by nature with
special organs of reproduction and reproductive glands whose
secretions, when they are projected from the body under certain
conditions, reproduce themselves, and increase and develop in such
wise that the living organism from which they proceed is reproduced in
practically its identical form. Thus it perpetuates the original type.
Philosophically it may be said that these cells directly continue the
life of the parents, so that death in reality only destroys a part of
the individual. Every individual lives again in his offspring.
THE TRUE MISSION OF SEX
This rebirth of the individual in his descendants represents the true
mission of sex where the human being is concerned. And reproduction,
the perpetuation of the species, underlies all rightful and normal sex
functions and activities. The actual physical process of reproduction,
the details which initiate reproduction in the case of the human
being, it seems unnecessary here to describe. In the animal world,
into which the moral equation does not really enter, the facts of
conjugation represent a simple and natural working-out of functional
bodily laws, usually with a seasonal determination. But where man is
concerned these facts are so largely made to serve the purposes of
pruriency, so exploited to inflame the imagination in an undesirable
and directly harmful way that they can be approached only with the
utmost caution.
The intimate fact knowledge necessary in this connection is of a
peculiarly personal and sacred nature, and represents information
which is better communicated by the spoken than by the printed word.
The wise father and mother are those naturally indicated to convey
this information to their sons and daughters by word of mouth. By
analogy, by fuller development and description of the reproductive
processes of plant and animal life on which we have touched, the
matter of human procreation may be approached. Parents should stress
the point, when trying to present this subject to the youthful mind,
that man's special functions are only a detail--albeit a most
important one--in nature's vast plan for the propagation of life on
earth. This will have the advantage of correcting a trend on the part
of the imaginative boy or girl to lay too much stress on the part
humanity plays in this great general reproductive scheme. It will lay
weight on the fact that the functional workings of reproduction are
not, primarily, a source of pleasure, but that--when safeguarded by
the institution of matrimony, on which civilized social life is
based--they stand for the observance of solemn duties and obligations,
duties to church and state, and obligations to posterity. Hence,
parents, in talking to their children about these matters should do so
in a sober and instructive fashion. The attention of a mother,
perhaps, need not be called to this. But fathers may be inclined, in
many cases, to inform their sons without insisting that the
information they give them is, in the final analysis, intended to be
applied to lofty constructive purposes. They may, in their desire to
speak _practically_, forget the moral values which should underlie
this intimate information. Never should the spirit of levity intrude
itself in these intimate personal sex colloquies. Restraint and
decency should always mark them.
In making clear to the mind of youth the fact data which initiates and
governs reproduction in animal and in human life, the ideal to be
cultivated is continence, the refraining from all experimentation
undertaken in a spirit of curiosity, until such time as a well-placed
affection, sanctioned by the divine blessing, will justify a sane and
normal exploitation of physical needs and urges in the matrimonial
state. To this end hard bodily and mental work should be encouraged in
the youth of both sexes. "Satan finds work for idle hands to do," has
special application in this connection, and a chaste and continent
youth is usually the forerunner of a happy and contented marriage. And
incidentally, a happy marriage is the best guarantee that
reproduction, the carrying on of the species, will be morally and
physically a success. Here, too, the fact should be strongly stressed
that prostitution cannot be justified on any moral grounds. It
represents a deliberate ignoring of the rightful function of sex, and
the perversion of the sane and natural laws of reproduction. It is in
marriage, in the sane and normal activities of that unit of our whole
social system--the family--that reproduction develops nature's basic
principle of perpetuation in the highest and worthiest manner, in
obedience to laws humane and divine.
CHAPTER II
THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO HUMAN BEING
In the functional processes alluded to in the preceding chapter, the
male germ-cell and the female germ-cell unite in a practically equal
division of substance. We say "practically" because the maternal and
the paternal influences are not equally divided in the offspring. One
or the other usually predominates. But, as a general rule, it may be
said that in the development of the embryonal life the process of cell
division proceeds in such a way that every germ of the child's future
organism represents approximately one-half maternal and one-half
paternal substance and energy.
In this process lies the true secret of heredity. The inherited
energies retain their full measure of power, and all their original
quality in the growing and dividing chromosomes (the chromosome is one
of the segments into which the chromoplasmic filaments of a
cell-nucleus break up just before indirect division). On the other
hand, the egg-substance of the female germ-cell, which is assimilated
by the chromosomes, and which is turned into _their_ substance by the
process of organic chemistry, loses its specific plastic vital energy
completely. It is in the same way that food eaten by the adult has
absolutely no effect on his qualitative organic structure. We may eat
ever so many beef-steaks without acquiring any of the characteristics
of an ox. And the germ-cell may devour any amount of egg-protoplasma
without losing its original paternal energy. As a rule a child
inherits as many qualities from its mother as from its father.
DETERMINATION OF SEX
Sex is determined after conception has taken place. At an early stage
of the embryo certain cells are set apart. These, later, form the sex
glands. Modern research claims to have discovered the secret of
absolutely determining sex in the human embryo, but even if these
claims are valid they have not as yet met with any general
application.
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
Some twelve days after conception, the female ovule or egg, which has
been impregnated by the male spermatazoön, escapes from the ovary
where it was impregnated, and entering a tube (Fallopian) gradually
descends by means of it into the cavity of the womb or uterus. Here
the little germ begins to mature in order to develop into an exact
counterpart of its parents. In the human being the womb has only a
single cavity, and usually develops but a single embryo.
TWINS
Sometimes two ovules are matured at the same time. If fecundated, two
embryos instead of one will develop, producing twins. Triplets and
quadruplets, the results of the maturing of three or four ovules at
the same time, occur more rarely. As many as five children have been
born alive at a single birth, but have seldom lived for more than a
few minutes.
GESTATION
The development of the ovule in the womb is known as gestation or
pregnancy. The process is one of continued cell division and growth,
and while it goes on the ovule sticks to the inner wall of the womb.
There it is soon enveloped by a mucous membrane, which grows around it
and incloses it.
THE EMBRYO
The _Primitive Trace_, a delicate straight line appearing on the
surface of the growing layer of cells is the base of the embryonic
spinal column. Around this the whole embryo develops in an intricate
process of cell division and duplication. One end of the Primitive
Trace becomes the head, the other the tail, for every human being has
a tail at this stage of his existence. The neck is marked by a slight
depression; the body by a swollen center. Soon little buds or "pads"
appear in the proper positions. These represent arms and legs, whose
ends, finally, split up into fingers and toes. The embryonic human
being has been steadily increasing in size, meanwhile. By the fifth
week the heart and lungs are present in a rudimentary form, and ears
and face are distinctly outlined. During the seventh week the kidneys
are formed, and a little later the genital organs. At two months,
though sex is not determined as yet, eyes and nose are visible, the
mouth is gaping, and the skin can be distinguished. At ten weeks the
sexual organs form more definitely, and in the third month sex can be
definitely determined.
THE FOETUS
At the end of its fourth month the embryo--now four or five inches
long and weighing about an ounce--is promoted. It receives the name of
foetus. Hairs appear on the scalp, the eyes are provided with lids,
the tongue appears far back in the mouth. The movements of the foetus
are plainly felt by the mother. If born at this time it lives but a
few minutes. It continues to gain rapidly in weight. By the sixth
month the nails are solid, the liver large and red, and there is fluid
in the gall bladder. The seventh month finds the foetus from twelve
and a half to fourteen inches long, and weighing about fifty-five
ounces. It is now well proportioned, the bones of the cranium,
formerly flat, are arched. All its parts are well defined, and it can
live if born. By the end of the eighth month the foetus has thickened
out. Its skin is red and covered by a delicate down; the lower jaw has
grown to the same length as the upper one. The convolutions of the
brain structure also appear during this month.
PLACENTA AND UMBILICAL CORD
During gestation the unborn infant has been supplied with air and
nourishment by the mother. An organ called the _Placenta_, a spongy
growth of blood vessels, develops on the inner point of the womb. To
this organ the growing foetus is moored by a species of cable, the
_Umbilical Cord_. This cord, also made up mainly of blood vessels,
carries the blood of the foetus to and from the _Placenta_, absorbing
it through the thin walls which separate it from the mother's blood.
Only through her blood can the mother influence the child, since the
Umbilical Cord contains no nerves. The Umbilical Cord, attached to the
body of the child at the navel, is cut at birth, and with the Placenta
is expelled from the womb soon after the child has been born. Together
with the Placenta it forms a shapeless mass, familiarly known as the
"afterbirth," and when it is retained instead of being expelled is apt
to cause serious trouble.
CHILDBIRTH OR PARTURITION
At nine month's time the foetus is violently thrust from that
laboratory of nature in which it has formed. It is born, and comes
into the world as a child. Considering the ordinary size of the
generative passages, the expelling of the foetus from the womb would
seem impossible. But Nature, during those months in which she enlarged
the womb to hold its gradually increasing contents, has also increased
the generative passages in size. She has made them soft and
distensible, so that an apparent physical impossibility could take
place, though it is often accompanied by intense suffering. Modern
medical science has made childbirth easier, but the act of childbirth
is usually accompanied by more or less suffering. Excessive pain,
however, is often the result of causes which proper treatment can
remove before and at the time of confinement.
TWILIGHT SLEEP
The so-called "Twilight Sleep," a modern development, by which the
pangs of childbirth are obviated by the administration of drugs or by
hypnotic suggestion, has its opponents and defenders. The advantage of
a painless childbirth, upon which the mother can look back as on a
dream, is evident. The "Twilight Sleep" process has been used with the
happiest results both for parent and child. Opponents of this system
declare that the use of powerful drugs may injure the child. A method
commended is the administration of a mixture of laughing gas and
oxygen, which relieves the mother and does not affect the child.
THE NEW-BORN INFANT
The average weight of the new-born child is about seven and a half
pounds. It is insensitive to pain for the first few days, and seems
deaf (since its middle ears are filled with a thick mucus) for the
first two weeks. During the first few days, too, it does not seem able
to see. The first month of its existence is purely automatic.
Evidences of dawning intelligence appear in the second month and at
four months it will recognize mother or nurse. Muscularly it is poorly
developed. Not until two months old is it able to hold up its head,
and not until three months does voluntary muscular movement put in an
appearance. The new-born's first self-conscious act is to draw breath.
Deprived of its usual means of supply it must breathe or suffocate.
Its next is to suck milk, lest it starve.
HEREDITY
We often find children who offer a striking resemblance to a paternal
grandfather, a maternal aunt or a maternal great-grandmother. This is
known as atavism. There are many curious variations with regard to the
inheritance of ancestral traits. Some children show a remarkable
resemblance to their fathers in childhood, others to their mothers.
And many qualities of certain individual ancestors appear quite
suddenly late in life. Everything may be inherited, from the most
delicate shadings of the disposition, the intelligence and the will
power, to the least details of hair, nails and bone structure, etc.
And the combination of the qualities of one's ancestors in heredity is
so manifold and so unequal that it is extremely difficult to arrive at
fixed conclusions regarding it. Hereditary traits and tendencies are
developed out of the energies of the original conjugated germ-cells
throughout life, up to the very day of death. Even aged men often show
peculiarities in the evening of their life which may be clearly
recognized as inherited, and duplicating others shown by their
forbears at the same period of life.
As has already been mentioned every individual inherits, generally
speaking, as much from his paternal as from his maternal progenitors.
This in spite of the fact that the tiny paternal germ-cell is the
only medium of transmission of the paternal qualities, while the
mother furnishes the much larger egg-cell, and feeds him throughout
the embryonic period.
THE ENGRAM
An interesting theory maintains that the external impressions made
upon an organism which reacts to them and receives them, might be
called _engrams_ or "inscriptions." Thus the impression of some object
we have seen or touched (let us say we have seen a lion) may remain
engraved on our mind as an impression. Hence every memory picture is
one of engrams, whether the impression is a conscious one or an
unconscious one. According to this same theory the reawakening of an
older impression is an _ecphory_. Some new stimulation may thus
ecphorate an old engram. Now the entire embryonal development of the
human child is in reality no more than a continuous process of
ecphoration of old engrams, one after another. And the entire complex
of our living human organism is made up entirely of these
energy-complexes engraved on our consciousness or subconsciousness.
The sum total of all these engrams, in a living human being, according
to the theory advanced, is given the name of _mnema_. That which the
child receives in the way of energies contained in the germ-cells from
its ancestors is his hereditary _mnema_. And that which he acquires in
the course of his own individual life is his acquired or individual
_mnema_.
CHAPTER III
SEX IN MALE CHILDHOOD
(FROM 14 TO 16)
During the first years of child life all those laws of practical
hygiene which make for good health should be carefully observed. Every
organ of the body should be carefully protected, even at this early
age. The genital organs, especially, should not be rubbed or handled
under any pretext, beyond what is absolutely necessary for
cleanliness. The organs of generation, which we are apt to treat as
nonexistent in children, just because they are children, claim just as
much watchful care as any others.
SEX PRECAUTIONS IN INFANCY
Even in infancy, the diaper should fit easily about the organs which
it covers, so as not to give rise to undue friction or heating of the
parts. And for the same reason it should always be changed immediately
after urination or a movement of the bowels. No material which
prevents the escape of perspiration, urine or fecal matter should be
employed for a diaper. The use of a chair-commode as early as the end
of the first year is highly to be commended, as being more comfortable
for the sex organs and healthier for the child. It favors, in
particular, a more perfect development of limbs and hip joints.
EARLY SEX IMPRESSIONS
Sex impressions and reactions are apt to develop at an early age,
especially in the case of boys. If the child's physical health is
normal, however, they should not affect his mind or body. The growing
boy should be encouraged to take his sex questions and sex problems to
his parents (in his case preferably the father) for explanation. Thus
they may be made clear to him naturally and logically. He should not
be told what he soon discovers is not true: that babies are "dug up
with a silver spade," or make their appearances in the family thanks
to the kind offices of storks or angels. Instead, by analogy with the
reproductive processes of all nature, the true facts of sex may be
explained to him in a soothing and normal way.
EVIL COMMUNICATIONS
Too often, the growing boy receives his first lessons regarding sex
from ignorant and vicious associates. Curiosity is one of the greatest
natural factors in the child's proper development, if rightly
directed. When wrongly led, however, it may have the worst
consequences. Even before puberty occurs, a boy's attention may be
quite naturally drawn to his own sex organs.
NATURAL CAUSES OF INFANT SEXUAL PRECOCITY
Sexual precocity in boys may be natural or it may be artificially
called forth. Among natural causes which develop sex precocity is
promiscuous playing with other boys and girls for hours without
supervision. It may also be produced by playful repose on the stomach,
sliding down banisters, going too long without urinating, by
constipation or straining at stool, irritant cutaneous affections, and
rectal worms. Sliding down banisters, for instance, produces a
titillation. The act may be repeated until inveterate masturbation
results, even at an early age. Needless laving, handling and rubbing
of the private parts is another natural incitement to sexual
precocity.
PRIAPISM
_Priapism_ is a disease which boys often develop. It may be either a
result or a cause of sexual precocity, and may come from undue
handling of the genital parts or from a morbid state of health. It
takes the form of paroxysms, more or less frequent, and of violent and
often painful erection, calling for a physician's attention. If the
result of a functional disorder, and not arrested, it is in danger of
giving rise to masturbation. This morbid condition sometimes seriously
impairs the health.
MASTURBATION
_Masturbation_, the habit of self-abuse, often formed before puberty,
is an artificial development of sexual precocity. Most boys, from the
age of nine to fourteen, interest themselves in sex questions and
matters, but these are usually presented to them in a lewd and
improper manner, by improperly informed companions. Dwelling upon
these thoughts the boy is led to play with his sex organs in secret
and masturbation results. A secret vice of the most dangerous kind,
masturbation or self-pollution is often taught by older boys and takes
place, to quote an authority "in many of our colleges, boarding,
public and private schools," and is also indulged in by companions
beneath the home roof. If it becomes habitual, generally impaired
health, and often epilepsy, and total moral and physical degradation
results. Stains on the nightshirt or sheet occurring before puberty
are absolute evidence of the vice in boys.
WHAT FATHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR BOYS
Make sex facts clear to your boy as interesting, matter-of-fact
developments of general natural laws. Ungratified or improperly
gratified curiosity is what leads to a young boy's overemphasizing the
facts of sex as they apply to him. Make him your confidant. Teach him
to think cleanly and to act cleanly, neither to ignore nor to exalt
the sexual. Especially, when he himself is directly disturbed
sexually, either in a mental or physical way, let him feel that he can
apply to you naturally for relief and explanation. If this be done,
your boy's sex development before puberty will be natural and normal,
and when the more serious and difficult problems of adolescence
present themselves, he will be prepared to handle them on the basis of
right thinking and right living. Natural and healthy sport in the open
air, and the avoidance of foul language and indecency should be
stressed. The use of alcohol, coffee and tea by children tends to
weaken their sexual organs. Every boy should know that chastity means
continence. He should know that lascivious thoughts lead to lascivious
actions, and that these are a drain on his system which may spoil his
life in later years.
In the education of his children the average man is only too apt to
repeat the same mistake of unconsciously crediting the child with the
possession of his own feelings and his own outlook, that is the
feelings and outlook of the adult. In general, things which may make
an impression in a sex way on the adult are a matter of indifference
to the sexually unripe boy. Hence it is quite possible for a father to
discuss sex matters with his young son and inform him constructively,
without in any undue way rousing his sex curiosity or awakening
desire. Such talks, of course, should be in accordance with the
principles already laid down in the section on "Reproduction."
If a boy is accustomed and taught to regard sex conditions and matters
in a proper and innocent manner, as something perfectly natural,
improper curiosity and eroticism are far less likely to be aroused
than when this is not the case. For the whole subject will have lost
the dangerous attraction of novelty. On the other hand, we find boys
who have been brought up with great prudery and in complete ignorance
of sex matters (save that which may come to them from impure sources)
greatly excited and ashamed by the first appearance of the indications
of puberty. Secrecy is the enemy of a clean, normal conception on the
part of the child as to the right place sex and the sex function play
in life and in the world. It stands to reason, of course, that every
least detail of the sex question cannot be intelligently made clear to
a little child. But his questions should all be answered, honestly,
and with due regard for his age and his capacity to understand what is
explained to him.
One very great advantage of an early paternal explanation of sex
matters to the boy is its beneficial effect on the mind and the
nerves. Many boys brood or grow melancholy when confronted with sex
riddles and problems for which they are unable to find a solution; and
as the result of totally erroneous ideas they may have formed with
regard to sex matters. At the same time too much attention should not
be paid the discussion of sex questions between father and son. A
father should, so far as possible, endeavor to develop other interests
and preoccupations in his boy, and turn his mind as much as may be
_away_ from matters sexual, until the age when the youth is ripe for
marriage is reached.
CHAPTER IV
SEX IN FEMALE CHILDHOOD
(FROM 12 TO 14)
What has been said in general about practical observance of the laws
of sex hygiene in the preceding chapter for boys, applies to girls as
well. If anything the sex precautions taken in infancy should be even
more closely followed, as girls are by nature less robust than boys.
If children could be raised in entire accordance with natural laws,
the sexual instinct of girls as well as boys would probably remain
dormant during the period stretching from infancy to puberty. As in
the case of the boy, so in that of the girl, any manifestation of
sexual precocity should be investigated, to see whether it be due to
natural or artificial causes. In either case the proper remedies
should be applied.
SEX PRECOCITY IN GIRLS
There are cases of extraordinary sex precocity in girls. One case
reported in the United States was that of a female child who at birth
possessed all the characteristics usually developed at puberty. In
this case the natural periodical changes began at birth! Fortunately,
this is a case more or less unique. In little girls and boys undue
sexual handling or titillating of their genital organs tends to quiet
them, so nurses (let us hope in ignorance of the consequences!) often
resort to it. Sending children to bed very early, to "get rid of
them," or confining them in a room by themselves, tends to encourage
the development of vicious habits. A single bed, both in the school
and in the home, is indispensable to purity of morals and personal
cleanliness. It tends to restrain too early development of the sexual
instinct both in small girls and small boys.
SEXUAL SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS
Small girls, like small boys, display an intelligent curiosity as
regards the phenomena of sex at an early age. And what has already
been said regarding its improper gratification in the preceding
chapter, so far as boys are concerned, applies with equal force to
them. In their case, however, the mother is a girl's natural confidant
and friend. Self-abuse in one or another form is as common in the case
of the girl as in that of the boy. As a rule, girls who live an
outdoor life, and work with their muscles more than their mind, do not
develop undue precocious sexual curiosities or desires. At least they
do not do so to the same extent as those more nervously and
susceptibly constituted. The less delicate and sensitive children of
the country tend less to these habits than their more sensitively
organized city brothers and sisters. Girls who have formed vicious
habits are apt to indulge in the practice of self-abuse at night when
going to bed. If there is cause for suspicion, the bedclothes should
be quickly and suddenly thrown off under some pretense. Self-abuse
usually has a marked effect on the genital organs of girls. The inner
organs become unnaturally enlarged and distended, and _leucorrhea_,
catarrh of the vagina, attended by a discharge of greenish-white
mucus, often develops.
RESULTS OF SELF-ABUSE IN GIRLS
Local diseases, due to this cause, result in girls as well as boys.
Temporary congestions become permanent, and develop into permanent
irritations and disorders. Leucorrhea has already been mentioned.
Contact with the acrid, irritating internal secretions also causes
_soreness of the fingers at the root of the nails_, and warts.
Congestion and other diseases are other ultimate results of the habit;
and these congestions to which it gives rise unduly hasten the advent
of puberty. Any _decided enlargement of the labia and clitoris in a
young girl_ may be taken as a positive evidence of the existence of
the habit of self-abuse. Sterility, and atrophy of the breasts--their
deficient development--when the vice is begun before puberty, is
another result.
PRURITIS AND FEMININE NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS
_Pruritis_ (itching genitals), though not necessarily caused by
self-abuse, may be one of its consequences. Continued congestion
causes the genital parts to itch terribly. This itching increases
until the desire to manipulate the genitals becomes irresistible. It
will then be indulged in even in the presence of strangers, though the
girl in question at other times may be exceptionally modest. Girls
addicted to the vice also suffer from nocturnal emissions. The general
effect of self-abuse is much the same in the case of a girl as in that
of a boy, for leucorrhea is injurious in somewhat the same fashion as
seminal loss. In the case of girls the greatest injury, however, is
due to the nervous exhaustion which succeeds the unnatural excitement.
WHAT MOTHERS SHOULD DO FOR THEIR GIRLS
A healthy girl should be happy and comfortable in all respects. She
will not be so, especially with regard to her sex problems, unless she
can appeal to her mother as a friend and confidant. While keeping your
girl's mind pure and healthy by precept and example, do not forget
that the best way to protect her against evil influences and
communications is to tell her the exact truth about sex facts, as they
apply to her, just as the father should his boy. Keep your girl fully
occupied and do not leave her sex education to the evil winds of
chance.
Let sex knowledge take its place as a proper, necessary part of her
general education. If your daughter feels she can at all times talk
freely to you all will be well. Gratify her natural sex curiosity in a
natural way. See that _immediate_ medical attention is given
inflammations, excoriations, itchings and swellings of her genital
organs. Such conditions will lead her to rub and scratch these
parts--never to be touched--for relief. If, as a result of the
sensations experienced, masturbation results, _yours is the sin_.
CHAPTER V
SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT MALE
(FROM PUBERTY TO MATURITY)
Adolescence is the period when the boy is lost in the man. It is the
time of life embraced between the ages of fourteen or sixteen and the
age of twenty-five. Every boy, if properly trained, should reach this
period in a state of good general health and spirits. Hitherto he has
been led and guided. Now he must develop mental strength and will
power himself to choose the good and refuse the evil in the sexual
problems confronting him.
PUBERTY
According to climate puberty, the age when the human male becomes
sexually perfect, varies from ten to fifteen years. In the United
States puberty in the male usually occurs at the age of fourteen and a
half years. In tropical climates it occurs at nine or ten, and in cold
countries, such as Norway and Siberia, it may not take place until
eighteen or nineteen. Vigorous physical exercise tends to delay
puberty, anything exciting the emotions tends to hasten it.
Stimulating foods, pepper, vinegar, mustard, spices, tea and coffee,
excess meat nutriment hasten puberty. A cool, unstimulating vegetable
and farinaceous diet may delay the development of the sexual system
several months or a year.
THE SIGNS AND CHANGES OF PUBERTY
In the boy the signs of puberty are the growth of hair on the skin
covering the pubes and in the armpits. Chest and arms broaden, the
frame grows more angular, the masculine proportions more pronounced.
The vocal cords grow longer and lower the pitch of the voice. Hair
grows on chin, upper lip, cheeks, and often on the body surface.
THE SEXUAL MORAL LAW
The sexual moral law is the same for both sexes, and equally binding.
It may be summed up as follows: "Your sexual urges, instincts and
desires should never consciously injure an individual human being or
mankind in general. They should be exercised to further the value and
happiness of both."
THE MALE ADOLESCENT AND CONTINENCE
The perfect carrying out of this general moral law implies continence
on the part of the male adolescent until marriage. Continence is
positive restraint under all circumstances. Strict continence is
neither injurious to health, nor does it produce impotence. While
self-denial is difficult, since the promptings of nature often seem
imperious, it is not impossible. It is certain that no youth will
suffer, physically, by remaining sexually pure. The demands which
occur during adolescence are mainly abnormal, due to the excitements
of an overstimulating diet, pornographic literature and art, and the
temptations of impure association.
WHY YOUNG MEN GO WRONG
Foul thoughts, once they enter the mind, corrode it. The sensual
glance, the bawdy laugh, the ribald jest, the smutty story, the
obscene song may be met with on street corner, in the car, train,
hotel lobby, lecture hall and workshop. Mental unchastity ends in
physical unchastity. The habit common to most adolescent boys and
young men of relating smutty stories, repeating foul jokes and making
indecent allusions destroys respect for virtue. In addition there are
such direct physical causes of undue adolescent sexual excitement as
constipation and alcoholism, and such mental ones as nervous
irritability.
To the constant discussion and speculation regarding sex and its
mysteries by the adolescent young male, must be added the artificial
idea that idle prattling on the subject is a sign of "manhood." Thus
many young men whose natural trend is in the direction of decency and
right sexual living, "step out" or "go to see the girls," as the
phrase is, because they think that otherwise "they are not real men."
More subtle in its evil effect, yet somewhat less dangerous
physically, perhaps, than the professional prostitute is the lure of
the "hidden" prostitute, who carefully conceals her derelictions, and
publicly wraps herself in a mantle of virtue.
PROSTITUTION
The training of the average male mind in impure language and thought
during boyhood and adolescence, the cultivation of his animal at the
expense of the moral nature, often leads the adolescent to seek
satisfaction by frequenting the prostitute.
_Prostitution_, known as the "social evil," is promiscuous unchastity
for gain. It has existed in all civilized countries from earliest
times. Prostitution abuses the instinct for reproduction, the basic
element of sex, to offer certain women a livelihood which they prefer
to other means. Love of excitement, inherited criminal propensities,
indolence and abnormal sex appetite are first causes of prostitution.
Difficulty in finding work, laborious and ill-paid work, harsh
treatment of girls at home, indecent living among the poor, contact
with demoralizing companions, loose literature and amusements are
secondary causes. They all contribute to debauch male and female youth
and lead it to form dangerous habits of vicious sensual indulgence.
Prostitution seems inseparable from human society in large
communities. The fact is acknowledged in the name given it, "the
necessary evil." Regulation and medical control only arrest in a
degree the spread of venereal diseases to which prostitution gives
rise. The elementary laws on which prostitution rests seems to be
stronger than the artificial codes imposed by moral teaching. It is an
evil which must be combatted _individually_. Men are principally
responsible, in one way or another, for the existence of the social
evil. In the case of the young man, abstention is the only cure for
the probable results of indulging his animal passions by recourse to
the prostitute.
Prostitution, both public and private is the most dangerous menace to
society at large. It is the curse of individual young manhood because
of the venereal diseases it spreads. One visit to a house of
prostitution may ruin a young man's health and life, and millions of
human beings die annually from the effects of poison contracted in
these houses. "Wild oats" sown in company with the prostitute usually
bear fruit in the shape of the most loathsome and destructive sex
disorders.
The development of self-control, the avoidance of impure thoughts and
associations, the cultivation of the higher moral nature instead of
the lower animal one, and, finally, _marriage_, should prevent the
young man from falling into prostitution. All the state and medical
regulation in the world will not protect him from the venereal
diseases he is so apt to acquire by such indulgence.
FREE LOVE
Free love is the doctrine of _unrestrained choice, without binding
ties_, in sexual relations. For altogether different reasons, however,
it is quite as objectionable as prostitution for the young man. It may
offer better hygienic guarantees. But it is a sexual partnership which
is opposed to the fundamental institution of _marriage_, on which
society in general is based throughout the world. And, aside from the
fact that it is a promiscuous relationship not sanctioned by law or
society, it is seldom practically successful. It cannot admit of true
love without bitter jealousies.
CHAPTER VI
SEX IN THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE
(FROM PUBERTY TO MATURITY)
Adolescence in the girl is the period when she develops into a woman.
It is that stage in female life embraced between the ages of twelve or
fourteen and twenty-one years. Elasticity of body, a clear complexion,
and a happy control of her feelings should mark the young girl at this
time, if she has been so fortunate as to escape the dangers and
baneful influences of childhood and infancy. Her numerous bodily
functions should be well performed. Thus constituted she should be in
a condition to take up her coming struggle with the world, and the sex
problem it will present.
PUBERTY
It has been noticed that in the case of girls, puberty usually occurs
earlier in brunettes than in blondes. In general, it makes its
appearance earlier in those of a nervous or bilio-nervous temperament
than in those whose temperament is phlegmatic or lymphatic. In the
United States fourteen and a half years is the usual age of puberty in
girls. In tropical lands, however, it is not uncommon for a girl to be
a mother at twelve. Country girls (and boys) usually mature several
months or a year later than those living in cities. Too early a
puberty in girls may well arouse concern. It usually indicates some
inherent constitutional weakness. Premature puberty is often
associated with premature decay.
THE SIGNS AND CHANGES OF PUBERTY
In the girl the sign of puberty is the growth of hair about the pubes,
private organs and armpits. Her whole frame remains more slender than
in the male. Muscles and joints are less prominent, limbs more rounded
and tapering. Internal and external organs undergo rapid enlargement,
locally. The _mammæ_ (the breasts) enlarge, the ovaries dilate, and a
periodical uteral discharge (menstruation) is established.
MENSTRUATION
No young girl should feel alarmed if, owing to the negligence of her
parents or guardians to prepare her, she is surprised by this first
flow from the genital organs. Puberty is the proper time for the
appearance of menstruation. This is the periodical development and
discharge of an ovule (one or more) by the female, accompanied by the
discharge of a fluid, known as menses or catamenia. Menstruation, in
general good health, should occur about every twenty-eight days, or
once in four weeks. This rule, however, is subject to great variation.
Menstruation continues from puberty to about the forty-fifth year,
which usually marks the _menopause_, or "change of life." When it
disappears a woman is no longer capable of bearing children. Her
period of fertility has passed. In rare cases menstruation has stopped
at 35, or lasted till 60.
HINTS FOR OBSERVANCE DURING MENSTRUATION
When the period arrives a girl or woman has a feeling of discomfort
and lassitude, there is a sense of weight, and a disclination for
society. Menstruation should not, however, be regarded as a nuisance;
a girl's friends respect her most when she is "unwell." She should
keep more than usually quiet while the flow continues, which it will
do for a few days. Also, she should avoid all unnecessary fatigue,
exposure to wet or to extremes of temperature. Some girls are guilty
of the crime of trying to arrest the menstruation flow, and resorting
to methods of stopping it. Why? In order to attend a dance or pleasure
excursion! Lives have been lost by thus suppressing the monthly flux.
Mothers should instruct their daughters when the menses are apt to
begin, and what their function is. During menstruation great care must
be taken in using water internally. A chill is sufficient to arrest
the flow. If menstruation does not establish itself in a healthy or
normal manner at the proper time, consult a physician in order to
remove this abnormal condition. Any disturbance of the delicate
menstrual functions during the period, by constrained positions,
muscular effort, brain work and mental or physical excitement, is apt
to have serious consequences.
CONTINENCE AND THE YOUNG ADOLESCENT GIRL
Continence is, as a rule more easily observed by the adolescent girl
than by the adolescent youth. Ordinarily the normal young girl has no
_undue_ sexual propensities, amorous thoughts or feelings. Though she
is exposed to the danger of meeting other girls who may be lewd in
thought and speech, in the houses of friends or at school, she is not
apt to be carried away by their example. Yet even a good, pure-minded
young girl may be debauched. Especially during adolescence, the easy
observance of natural continence depends greatly on the proper
functioning of the feminine genital organs. These may be easily
disturbed. The syringe used for injections, for so-called purposes of
cleanliness, is in reality a danger. The inner organs are
self-cleansing. Water or other fluids cast into them disorder the
mucous follicles, and dry up their secretions, preventing the flowing
out of some of Nature's necessities. A daily washing of the inner
organs for a long period with water also produces chronic leucorrhea.
WHY YOUNG GIRLS FALL
Lack of proper early training, abnormal sex instincts, weak good
nature, poverty, all may be responsible for a young girl's moral
downfall. As a general thing, right home training and home
environment, and sane sex education will prevent the normally good
girl from going wrong. It should be remembered, though, that a
naturally more gentle and yielding disposition may easily lead her
into temptation. Girls who are sentimentally inclined should beware of
giving way to advances on the part of young men which have only one
object in view: the gratification of their animal passion.
The holding of hands and similar innocent beginnings often pave the
way for more familiar caresses. Passionate kisses--the promiscuous
kiss, by the way, may be the carrier of that dread infection,
syphilis--violently awaken a young girl's sex instincts. The fact is
that many innocent girls idealize their seducers. They believe their
lying promises, actually come to love them, and think that in
gratifying their inflamed desires, they are giving a proof of the
depth and purity of their own affection.
Here, as in the case of the young man, self-control should be the
first thing cultivated. And self-control should be made doubly sure by
never permitting one of the opposite sex to show undue familiarity.
Many a seemingly innocent flirtation, begun with a kiss, has ended in
shame and disgrace, in loss of social standing and position, venereal
disease, or even death. The pure-minded and innocent girl often
becomes a victim of her ignorance of the consequences entailed by
giving in to the desires of some male companion. _The girl who has a
knowledge of sex facts is less apt to be taken advantage of in this
manner._
MODERN CONDITIONS WHICH ENCOURAGE IMMORALITY
_Excessive Freedom._--The excessive freedom granted the young girl,
especially since the World War, must be held responsible for a great
increase in familiarity between the adolescent youth of both sexes.
Many young girls of the "flapper" type, in particular, are victims of
these conditions of unrestrained sex association. Sex precocity is
furthered in coeducational colleges, in the high school and the home.
Adolescents of both sexes too often are practically unhampered in
their comings and goings, their words and actions. The surreptitious
pocket flask, filled with "hooch," is often a feature of social
parties, dances and affairs frequented by young people. Girls and boys
drink together, and as alcohol weakens moral resistance in the one
case, and stimulates desire in the other, deplorable consequences
naturally result. In the United States the number of girls "sent home"
from colleges, and of high-school girls being privately treated by
physicians to save them from disgrace, is incredibly large.
Parents who do not control the social activities of their daughters,
who permit them to spend their evenings away from home with only a
general idea of what they are doing or whom they are meeting, need not
be surprised if their morals are undermined.
_The Auto._--The advent of the automobile is responsible for an easy
and convenient manner of satisfying precociously aroused sex instincts
in young girls and boys. Often, unconscientious pleasure-seekers roam
the roads in their auto. They accost girls who are walking and offer
them a "lift." When the latter refuse to gratify their desires they
are often beaten and flung from the car. The daily press has given
such publicity to this civilized form of "head hunting," that it is
difficult to sympathize with girls who are thus treated. They cannot
help but know that in nine cases out of ten, a stranger who invites
them to a ride, who "picks" them up, does so with the definite purpose
already mentioned in view.
_Poverty._--Poverty, too, plays a large part in driving young girls
into a life of vice. In all our large cities there are hundreds of
young women who earn hardly enough to buy food and fuel and pay for
the rent of a room in a cheap lodging house. Feminine youth longs for
dress, for company, for entertainment. It is easy enough to find a
"gentleman friend" who will provide all three, in exchange for
"companionship." So the bargain is struck. These conditions exist in a
hundred and one occupations. A young woman may go to a large city as
pure as snow, but finding no lucrative employment, lonely and
despondent, she is led to take her first step on the downward path.
Soon daily contact with vice removes abhorrence to it. Familiarity
makes it habitual, and another life is ruined. The heartless moral
code of the cynical young pleasure-seeking male is summed up in the
cant phrase anent women: "Find, ... and forget!" It is these girls,
who are victimized by their lack of self-restraint or moral principle,
their ignorance or weakness, who make possible the application of such
a maxim.
VIRGINITY
Both mental and physical purity are rightfully required of the young
girl about to marry. How shall she acquire and maintain this desirable
state of purity? The process is a simple one. _She must let a
knowledge of the true hygienic and moral laws of her sex guide her in
her relations with men._ She must cultivate clean thought on a basis
of physical cleanliness. She need not be ignorant to be pure. Men she
should study carefully. She should not allow them to sit with their
arm about her waist, to hold her hand, to kiss her. No approach nor
touch beyond what the best social observance sanctions should be
permitted. Even the tendernesses and familiarities of courtship should
be restrained. An engagement does not necessarily culminate in a
marriage, and once the foot has slipped on virtue's path the error
cannot be recalled. These considerations, together with those adduced
in the preceding section, "Why Young Girls Fall," are well worth
taking to heart by every young woman who wishes to approach matrimony
in the right and proper way.
CHAPTER VII
SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION
THE HUSBAND
Marriage is the process by which a man and woman enter into a complete
physical, legal and moral union. The natural object of marriage is the
complete community of life for the establishment of a family.
THE MARRIAGEABLE AGE AND ADAPTATION
At twenty-four the male body attains its complete development; and
twenty-five is a proper age for the young man to marry. Romantic love,
personal affection on a basis of congeniality, mutual adaptation, a
similar social sphere of life, should determine his choice. Nature and
custom indicate that the husband should be somewhat older than the
wife.
MEN WHO SHOULD NOT MARRY
Men suffering with diseases which may be communicated by contagion or
heredity should not marry. These diseases include: tuberculosis,
syphilis, cancer, leprosy, epilepsy and some nervous disorders, some
skin diseases and insanity. A worn-out rake has no business to marry,
since marriage is not a hospital for the treatment of disease, or a
reformatory institution for moral lepers. Those having a marked
tendency to disease must not marry those of similar tendency. The
marriage of cousins is not to be advocated. The blood relation tends
to bring together persons with similar morbid tendencies. Where both
are healthy, however, there seems to be no special liability to mental
incompetency, though such marriages are accused of producing defective
or idiot children. Men suffering from congenital defects should not
marry. Natural blindness, deafness, muteness, and congenital
deformities of limb are more or less likely to be passed on to their
children. There are cases of natural blindness, though, to which this
rule does not apply. Criminals, alcoholics, and persons
disproportionate in size should not marry. In the last-mentioned, lack
of mutual physical adaptability may produce much unhappiness,
especially on the part of the wife. Serious local disease, sterility,
and great risk in childbirth may result. Disparity of years, disparity
of race, a poverty which will not permit the proper raising of
children, undesirable moral character are all good reasons for not
marrying.
MEDICAL EXAMINATION BEFORE MARRIAGE
Medical examination as a preliminary to marriage is practically more
valuable than a marriage license. Since many entirely innocent young
girls to-day suffer from disease, incurred either through hereditary
or accidental infection, a would-be husband may be said to be quite as
much entitled to protection as his bride-to-be. Prohibitive physical
defects are also discovered in this connection.
CHAPTER VIII
SEX IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION
THE WIFE
Girls marry, in the final analysis, because love for the male is an
innate natural principle of the female nature. At its best this love
is pure and chaste. The good woman realizes that its first purpose is
not mere carnal pleasure. It is a special avowal of the wife's
relations to her husband, and its natural as well as moral end is the
establishment of the family on the basis of a healthy progeny.
BEFORE MARRIAGE
The wife-to-be, like her prospective husband, will be well advised to
ask for a medical health certificate. No man, no matter how good his
reputation may be, should marry (on his own account as well as that of
the girl) without thorough examination by a physician. The
consequences of venereal infection administered to unborn children by
their parents are too horrible to allow of any risk being taken.
Another bit of advice, which cannot be too highly commended, is that
the prospective husband and wife, before they marry, have a plain talk
with each other regarding individual sexual peculiarities and needs. A
heart-to-heart talk of this kind would be apt to prevent great
disappointments and incompatibilities which otherwise may become
permanent.
THE WIFE AND HER POSITION
The natural instinct of a man is to seek his mate. On her he depends
for an orderly and lawful indulgence of his sex demands. The greatest
longevity and best health are to be found among happily married
fathers and mothers. No young woman should marry without a full
knowledge of her sex duties to her husband. And she should never
consummate the marriage vow grudgingly.
CHILDBIRTH HYGIENE
Childbirth is the natural consequence of marriage. Its processes have
already been explained in Chapter II of this book. There are, however,
some hygienic facts in connection with it which should be noted. Once
pregnancy is established, as soon as the fact is suspected, the
mother-to-be should look on the little embryo as already a member of
the family. Every act of each parent should now be performed (at least
to some degree) with reference to the forthcoming infant. The mother's
thoughts should be directed to it as much as possible. Mentally she
should read literature of a lofty and ennobling character. The theory
is that this serves a good purpose in producing a more perfect,
healthy and intelligent child. Physically, she should take plenty of
active exercise during gestation. Active exercise does not, of course,
mean violent exercise. And she should use a "Health Lift." During
this time she should subsist as far as possible on a farinaceous
diet, fruits and vegetables. The foods should be plainly cooked,
without spices. If all else is as it should be, the birth of the child
at the end of the customary nine months will be attended by
comparatively little pain and danger.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD CHILDBIRTH TAKE PLACE?
It is most important that the childbearing wife and mother have a long
period of rest between births. At least one year should separate a
birth and the conception following it. This means that about two years
should elapse between two births. If this rule be followed, the wife
will retain her health, and her children will also be healthy. It is
far better to give birth to seven children, who will live and be
healthy, than to bear fourteen, of whom seven are likely to die, while
the numerous successive births wear out and age the unfortunate
mother.
MATRIMONIAL ADJUSTMENT
The above paragraph deals with one detail of what might be called
"matrimonial adjustment." This adjustment or compromise is a feature
of all successful marriages. The individual cravings of husband and
wife must be reconciled by mutual good will and forbearance if they
are to be happy. Attention should be paid in particular to not
allowing habit, "the worst foe of married happiness," to become too
well established in the home, and to cultivate that love and affection
which survives the decline of the sexual faculties.
THE IDEAL MARRIAGE
The ideal marriage is the one in which affection combines to bring
happiness to both partners in a sane union of sex and soul. As one
commentator has rather unhappily expressed it: "When married the
_battle_ for one united and harmonious life really begins!" It is,
indeed, but too often a _battle_! Forbearance, consideration and
respect must be the foundation on which the ideal married state is
built. The husband should realize that his wife's love for him induces
her to allow privileges of a personal nature which her innate chastity
and timidity might otherwise refuse. In return, he should accept these
privileges with consideration. He should, in particular, on his
wedding night, take care not to shock his young bride's sensibilities.
He may easily give her a shock from which she will not recover for
years, and lead her to form an antipathy against the very act which is
"the bond and seal of a truly happy married life."
BIRTH CONTROL
Material changes have taken place in the birth-rate of a number of
countries during the past fifteen or twenty years which cannot be
attributed to purely economic causes. They do not seem to depend on
such things as trade, employment and prices; but on the spread of an
idea or influence whose tendency must be deplored, that of "birth
control," a phrase much heard in these days.
The fact that a decline in human fertility and a falling birth rate
are most noticeable in the relatively prosperous countries is a proof
that it does not proceed from economic causes; but is due rather to
the spread of the doctrine that it is permissible to restrict or
control birth. In such countries as the United States, England and
Australasia, where the standards of human comfort and living are
notoriously high, the decline in the birth rate has been most
noticeable. On the other hand, we find perhaps the greatest decline in
the birth rate in France, a country where the general well-being
probably reaches a lower depth in the community than in any other part
of Europe. A comparison of the birth rates of France and of Ireland,
for example, offer a valuable illustration of the point under
consideration. In France, more than half the women who have reached
the age of nubility are married; in Ireland, generally speaking, less
than a third. In both countries the crude birth rate is far below that
in other European lands. Yet the fertility of the Irish wife exceeded
that of her French compeer by 44 per cent in 1880, and by no less than
84 per cent in 1900. And since that time the prolificity of the Irish
mother has so increased that she is now, approximately speaking,
inferior only to the Dutch or Finnish mother in this respect.
In general, in any country where we find a diminished prolificity a
falling off of childbirth _unaccompanied_ by a decrease in the number
of marriages occurring at the reproductive ages, we may attribute this
decrease to _voluntary restriction of childbearing_ on the part of the
married, or in other words, to the prevalence of "birth control."
This incidentally, is not a theoretical statement, but one supported
by the almost unanimous medical opinion in all countries. Everywhere
and especially here in our own United States, we find evidence of the
extensive employ of "birth control" measures to prevent that normal
development of family life which underlies the vigor and racial power
of every nation. These preventive measures which arbitrarily control
human birth had long been in use in France with results which,
especially since the war, have been frequently and publicly deplored
in the press, and have led the French Government to offer substantial
rewards to encourage the propagation of large families. From France
the preventive practices of "birth control" had spread, after 1870,
over nearly all the countries of western Europe, to England and to the
United States; though they are not as much apparent in those countries
where the Roman Church has a strong hold on the people.
As a general thing, the practice of thus unnaturally limiting
families--"unnaturally" since the custom of "birth control" derives
from no natural, physical law--prevails, in the first instance, among
the well-to-do, who should rather be the first to set the example of
protest against it by having the families they are so much better able
to support and educate than those less favored with the world's goods.
If the evil of voluntary control of human birth were restricted to a
privileged class, say one of wealth, the harm done would, perhaps, not
be so great. But, unfortunately, in the course of time it filters
down as a "gospel of comfort"--erroneous term!--to those whose
resources are less. They accept and practice this invidious system of
prevention and gradually the entire community is more or less
affected.
The whole system of "birth control" is opposed to natural, human and
religious law. Nature, in none of her manifestations, introduces
anything which may tend to prevent her great reason for being--the
propagation of the species. Birth as the natural sequence of mating is
her solemn and invariable law. It is in birth and rebirth that nature
renews herself and all the life of the animal and vegetable world, and
her primal aim is to encourage it. Human law recognizes this
underlying law of nature by forbidding man to tamper in a preventive
way with her hallowed and mysterious processes for perpetuating the
human race. Religious law, based on the divine dispensation of the
Scriptures, indorses the law of nature and that of the state.
We may take it, then, that "birth control" represents a deliberate and
reprehensible attempt to nullify those innate laws of reproduction
sanctioned by religion, tradition and man's own ingrained instinct. To
say that the human instinct for the perpetuation of his race and
family has become atrophied during the flight of time, and that he is
therefore justified in denying it, is merely begging the question. The
instinct may be denied, just as other higher and nobler instincts are
disregarded; but its validity cannot be questioned. Whether those who
practice "birth control" are influenced by economic, selfishly
personal or other reasons, they are offending in a threefold manner:
against the inborn wish and desire which is a priceless possession of
even the least of God's creatures, that of living anew in its
offspring; against the law of the state, which after all, stands for
the crystallization of the best feeling of the community; and against
the divine injunction handed down to us in Holy Writ, to "increase and
multiply."
"Birth control" is the foe to the direct end and aim of marriage,
which, in the last analysis, is childbirth. As an enemy to the
procreation of children it is an enemy of the family and the family
group. As an enemy of the family, it is an enemy of the state, the
community, a foe to the whole social system. Mankind has been able to
attain its comparatively recent state of moral and physical
advancement without having recourse to the dangerous principle which
"birth control" represents. Surely that wise provision of our existing
legal code which makes the printing or dissemination of information
regarding the physical facts of "birth control" illegal and punishable
as an offense, can only be approved by those who respect the
Omnipotent will, and the time-hallowed traditions which date back to
the very inception of the race.
CHAPTER IX
SEX DISEASES
The sex diseases are the same in both sexes, whether developed by
direct or accidental infection. They are the greatest practical
argument in favor of continence, morality and marriage in the sex
relation.
GONORRHEA
Gonorrhea is a pus-discharging inflammation of the canal known as the
_urethra_, which passing through the entire length of the organ,
carries both the urine and the seminal fluid. It is caused by a
venereal bacillus, the _gonococcus_. Under favorable conditions and
with right treatment, gonorrhea may be cured, though violently
painful, in fourteen days. Often the inflammation extends, becomes
chronic and attacks other organs. This chronic gonorrhea often causes
permanent contraction of the urethra, which leads to the painful
retention of urine, catarrh of the bladder, and stone. Chronic
gonorrhea, too, often ends in death, especially if the kidneys are
attacked. A cured case of gonorrhea does not mean immunity from
further attacks. New infections are all the more easily acquired.
Gonorrhea has even more dangerous consequences in women than in men.
The _gonococcus_ bacilli infect all the inner female genital organs.
They cause frequent inflammations and lead to growths in the belly.
Women thus attacked usually are apt to be sterile; they suffer
agonies, and often become chronic invalids. The child born of a
gonorrheal mother, while passing through the infected genital organs,
comes to life with infected eyelids. This is _Blennorrhea_, which may
result in total blindness. Gonorrhea also causes inflammation of the
joints, gonorrheal rheumatism, testicular inflammations which may lead
to sterility. Some authorities claim that fully half the sterility in
women is caused by gonorrheal infection of the Fallopian tubes.
Gonorrheal infection of the eyes at birth is now prevented by first
washing them in a saturated solution of boric acid, then treating them
with a drop of weak silver solution.
SYPHILIS
Syphilis is a still more terrible venereal disease. It usually appears
first in small, hard sores, hard chancres, on the sexual parts or the
mouth. Then the syphilitic poison spreads throughout the whole body by
means of the blood. After a few weeks it breaks out on the face or
body. Its final cure is always questionable. Syphilis may lie dormant
for years, and then suddenly become active again. It breaks out in
sores on all parts of the body, often eats up the bone, destroys
internal organs, such as the liver, causes hardening of the lungs,
diseases of the blood vessels and eye diseases. Ulcers of the brain
and nerve paralysis often result from it. One of its most terrible
consequences is consumption of the spinal marrow and paralysis of the
brain, or paresis. The first slowly hardens and destroys the spinal
marrow, the second the brain. These diseases are only developed by
previous syphilitics. As a rule they occur from 5 to 20 years after
infection, usually 10 or 15 years after it. And they usually happen to
persons who believed themselves completely cured. Consumption of the
spinal marrow leads to death in the course of a few years of continual
torture. Paralysis of the brain turns the sufferer into a human ruin,
gradually extinguishing all mental and nervous functions, sentience,
movement, speech and intellect.
One danger of syphilis is the fact that its true nature may be
overlooked during the first period, because of the lack of pronounced
symptoms. Its early sores may easily be mistaken for some skin
affection. Mercury and other means are successful in doing away with
at least the more noticeable signs of syphilis during the first and
secondary stages. The modern medical treatment using mercury and
Salvarsan (606) in alternation, has been very successful. It is
claimed that by following it, syphilis may be totally cured if taken
in hand during the first stage. The sores developed during the first
two or three years of the disease are very infectious. In the case of
a chronic syphilis of three or four years' standing, the sores as a
rule are no longer infectious. It is possible, however, for a
syphilitic of this description to bring forth syphilitic children,
_without infecting his wife_. Such children either die at birth, or
later, of this congenital syphilis. They may also die of spinal
consumption or paresis between the ages of 10 and 20. The mortality of
all syphilitic children is very great. In most cases, however, healthy
children are born of the wedlock of _relatively cured_ syphilitics,
though they are often sterile. Young men who have had recourse to
prostitutes, often inoculate their wives with gonorrhea or syphilis,
and thus the plague is spread.
THE SOFT CHANCRE
The soft chancre is the third form of venereal disease (the hard
chancre being the first stage of syphilis). It is the least dangerous
of the venereal diseases, but unfortunately, relatively the one which
occurs most seldom. When not complicated with syphilis, it appears
locally. It is a larger or smaller sore feeding and growing on the
genital organs.
VENEREAL DISEASE AN ADVOCATE OF CONTINENCE
The most tragic consequence of all venereal disease is the part it
plays in the infection of innocent children, and innocent wives and
mothers. Often a pure and chaste woman is thus deprived in the most
cruel and brutal manner of the fruit of all her hopes and dreams of
happiness. Similarly, a young man may find himself hopelessly
condemned to a short life of pain and misery. He may also suffer from
the knowledge that he has ruined the lives of those dearest to him.
Venereal disease, syphilis in particular, emphasizes the _practical_
value of continence--quite aside from its moral one--in a manner which
cannot be ignored!
CHAPTER X
LOVE AND SEX
When we take under consideration the higher, truer love of one sex for
the other, that is, an affection which is not simply a friendship, but
has a sex basis, we realize that it may be a very noble emotion. There
is no manner of doubt but that the normal human being feels a great
need for love. Sex in love and its manifestation in the life of the
soul is one of the first conditions of human happiness, and a main aim
of human existence.
All know the tale of Cupid's arrow. A man falls in love with a face, a
pair of eyes, the sound of a voice, and his affection is developed
from this trifling beginning until it takes complete possession of
him. This love is usually made up of two components: a sex instinct,
and feelings of sympathy and interest which hark back to primal times.
And this love, in its true sense, should stand for an affection
purified from egoism.
When, among the lower animal forms we find individuals without a
determined sex, egoism develops free from all restraint. Each
individual creature devours as much as it can and feeding, together
with propagation by division, "budding" or conjunction, makes up the
total of its vital activities. It need do no more to accomplish the
purpose of its existence. Even when propagation commences to take
place by means of individual male and female parents, the same
principle of egoism largely obtains. The spiders are typical instances
of this: in their case the carrying out of the natural functions of
the male spider is attended with much danger for him, owing to the
fact that if he does not exercise the greatest care, he is apt to be
devoured immediately afterward by his female partner, in order that no
useful food matter may be lost. Yet even in the case of the spiders,
the female spider already gives proof of a certain capacity for
sacrifice where her young are concerned, at any rate for a short time
after they have crept from the egg.
In animals somewhat higher in the creative scale, more or less
powerful feelings of affection may develop out of their sex
association. There is affection on the part of the male for his mate,
and on the part of the female for her young. Often these feelings
develop into a strong, lasting affection between the sexes, and years
of what might be called faithful matrimonial union have been observed
in the case of birds. This in itself is sufficient to establish the
intimate relationship between love in a sex sense and love in a
general sense. And even in the animal creation we find the same
analogy existing between these feelings of sympathy and their
opposites which occur in the case of human beings. Every feeling of
attachment or sympathy existing between two individuals has a
counterpart in an opposite feeling of discontent when the object of
the love or attachment in question dies, falls sick, or runs away.
This feeling of discontent may assume the form of a sorrow ending in
lasting melancholy. In the case of apes and of certain parrots, it has
been noticed that the death of a mate has frequently led the survivor
to refuse nourishment, and die in turn from increasing grief and
depression. If, on the other hand, an animal discovers the cause of
the grief or loss which threatens it; if some enemy creature tries to
rob it of its mate or little ones, the mixed reactive feeling of rage
or anger is born in it, anger against the originator of its
discontent. Jealousy is only a definite special form of this anger
reaction.
A further development of the feeling of sympathy is that of duty.
Every feeling of love or sympathy urges those who feel it to do
certain things which will benefit the object of that love. A mother
will feed her young, bed them down comfortably, caress them; a father
will bring nourishment to the mother and her brood, and protect them
against foes. All these actions, not performed to benefit the creature
itself, but to help its beloved mate, represent exertion, trouble, the
overcoming of danger, and lead to a struggle between egoism and the
feeling of sympathy. Out of this struggle is born a third feeling,
that of responsibility and conscience. Thus the elements of the human
social feelings are already quite pronounced in the case of many
animals, including those of love as well as sex.
In the human animal, speaking in general, these feelings of sympathy
(love) and duty are strongly developed in the family connection; that
is, they are developed with special strength in those who are most
intimately united in sex life, in husband and wife and in children.
Consequently the feelings of sympathy or love which extend to larger
communal groups, such as more distant family connections, the tribe,
the community, those speaking the same tongue, the nation, are
relatively far weaker. Weakest of all, in all probability, is that
general human feeling which sees a brother in every other human being
and is conscious of the social duties owed him.
As regards man and wife, the relation of the actual sex instinct to
love is often a very complicated one. In the case of man the sex
feeling may, and frequently does exist independent of love in the
higher sense; in the case of woman it is quite certain that love
occurs far less seldom unaccompanied by the sex inclination. It is
also quite possible for love to develop before the development of the
sex feeling, and this often, in married life, leads to the happiest
relationships.
The mutual adoration of two individuals, husband and wife, often
degenerates into a species of egoistic enmity toward the remainder of
the world. And this, in turn, in many cases reacts unfavorably upon
the love the two feel for each other. Human solidarity, especially in
this day, is already too great not to revenge itself upon the
egotistical character of so exclusive a love. The real ideal of sex in
love might be expressed as follows: A man and a woman should be
induced to unite in marriage through genuine sex attraction and
harmony of character and disposition. In this union they should
mutually encourage each other to labor socially for the common good of
mankind, in such wise that _they further their own mutual education
and that of their children_, the beings nearest and dearest to them,
_as the natural point of departure for helping general human
betterment_.
If love in its relation to sex be conceived in this manner, it will
purify it by doing away with its pettinesses and it is just into these
pettinesses that the most honest and upright of matrimonial loves too
often degenerate. The constructive work done in common by two human
beings who, while they care lovingly for each other, at the same time
encourage each other to strive and endure in carrying out the
principles of right living and high thinking, will last. Love and
marriage looked at from this point of view, are relatively immune from
the small jealousies and other evil little developments of a
one-sided, purely physical affection. It will work for an ever more
ideal realization of love in its higher and nobler dispensations.
Real and true love is lasting. The suddenly awakened storm of sex
affection for a hitherto totally unknown person can never be accepted
as a true measure for love. This sudden surge of the sex feeling warps
the judgment, makes it possible to overlook the grossest defects,
colors all and everything with heavenly hues. It makes a man who is
"in love," or two beings who are in love, mutually blind, and causes
each to carefully conceal his or her real inward self from the other.
This may be the case even when the feelings of both are absolutely
honest, especially if the sex feeling is not paired with cool egoistic
calculation. Not until the first storm of the sex feeling has
subsided, when honeymoon weeks are over, is a more normal point of
view regained. And then love, indifference, or hatred, as the case may
be develops. It is for this reason that love at first sight is always
dangerous, and that only a longer and more intimate acquaintance with
the object of one's affection is calculated to give a lasting union a
relatively good chance of turning out happily. One thing is worth
bearing in mind. Woman invariably represents the conservative element
in the family. Her emotional qualities, combined with wonderful
endurance, always control her intellect more powerfully than is the
case with man; and the feelings and emotions form the conservative
element in the human soul.
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